Just now the court made their decision and cleared him of all charges!

Quote:

Lausanne, 17 December 2009 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its final decision in the arbitration between the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the French tennis player Richard Gasquet: the player has been exonerated from any fault or negligence and the CAS has dismissed the appeals filed by the ITF and WADA

Very nice!
Apparently the CAS decided that his temporary ban was quite enough for this 'minor faux pas' - which appears very reasonable to me.
Still I hope Richard has learned his lesson now, and that he'll be just a little more cautious on who to kiss in the near future.

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Fan of Unexpected Results. Now More Than Ever Before.

The International Tennis Federation has expressed its disappointment at the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to clear French player Richard Gasquet of doping after he tested positive for cocaine.

"The ITF is disappointed with today's decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to dismiss the ITF's and WADA's appeal against the decision imposed on Richard Gasquet by an independent tribunal in July 2009," ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said.

The CAS verdict followed a court's decision this week to overturn one-year suspensions for Belgians Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse who broke anti-doping regulations.

Both players fell foul of WADA rules on athletes being available for out-of-competition doping tests and notifying the authorities of their whereabouts.

"We are counterpart to the WADA code and we follow it scrupulously," said an ITF source who declined to be identified. WADA is expected to appeal to CAS about the decision to overturn the bans.

With former world number one Andre Agassi's recent announcement that he failed a doping test after taking crystal meth in 1997 and lied to the ATP to cover his tracks, it has been a difficult few months for the reputation of tennis.

While the Agassi case occurred years before WADA was founded and before the ITF took control of anti-doping in tennis, the Belgian case and Gasquet's escape appear to have undermined the authority of the ITF and WADA.

"The ITF has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code, which provides a right to appeal decisions made under rules pursuant to the Code, and the ITF and WADA have exercised their respective rights in this regard," Ricci Bitti added.

"The CAS is the ultimate arbiter of such appeals and so the ITF must respect and abide by its decision. The ITF also recognises the potential implications of the CAS decision with respect to future decisions and will discuss these with WADA."

Gasquet was provisionally suspended in May after testing positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, from a sample taken in Miami.

An independent tribunal set up by the International Tennis Federation ruled in July that he was guilty of a doping offence but accepted his plea that he been inadvertently contaminated by another person in a nightclub.

He was banned for two months and 15 days, backdated to May, meaning he is free to continue his career. The ITF had called for a one or two-year ban.

Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, strenuously denied having taken cocaine and said the results of tests on a hair sample in an independent laboratory proved his innocence.

CAS said it rejected the ITF's appeal that that there was insufficient evidence to support Gasquet's claim of contamination, finding that it was satisfied on the "balance of probabilities" that his claim was correct.

No, you get off the cutting board by being innocent of any real crime at all. The ITF couldn't prove that he did it, and from what I read about the arguments for either side, the ITF's points were pretty bogus, and most of the substantial evidence was on Gasquet's side. Wickmayer and Malisse were banned for a year because they didn't show up because they were ignorant of the rules that were in place over how often they have to be tested for drugs. As the courts rightly decided, all that they should get out of the whole incident is a warning of sorts to keep up on regulations for anti-doping. David Howman, the director general of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) even said that the rule that had originally led to the suspensions for Wickmayer and Malisse were going to go under review for fairness.

The only case that I can think of where someone really used their status to avoid penalty was Andre Agassi, but the recent cases were decided fairly.

P.S. Gasquet is one of my favorite players, and easily my favorite French player. Soo glad that he is back, would love for him to come back and win some big tournaments, especially Roland Garros! Understandably, that's sort of unrealistic for him to go and win the French Open, but one can dream!

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moroni: everyone stop being stupid
J011yroger: Buddy, Here on TW that is like asking water not to be wet.

This reminds me of what they did to Davydenko over the betting fiasco. Crucify him for a couple of years then say "All done, your free, go play tennis" Meanwhile whenver they heard his name the gambling issue was the first thing that came to mind. I am so glad that he won the Masters...now maybe people will remember Davy as a great tennis player.

It will be difficult for Gasquet to get over all this negative press as I'm sure this is all he has been thinking about since the charges were laid. He lost 1 lot of tennis over this.

Of course he was hitting that 8 ball. He just didnt drink enough golden seal to clear his sytem out. What sucker would believe his story?

toxicology uni proffessors,detectives,judges all believed his story.Why?Because there was EVIDENCE.
1)the amount was minimal-not enought to take from use.
2)Hair sample of Gasquet was negative.
3)Hair sample taken from Pamela was positive => cocaine user.
4)The minuscule amount of cocaine had a percentage of unmetabolised that couldn't have come from straight use rather from contamination.

The 2 months ban was for putting himself under circumstances like that,where he could be contaminated,and that was what the ITF and WADA appealed for in the end.

No, you get off the cutting board by being innocent of any real crime at all. The ITF couldn't prove that he did it, and from what I read about the arguments for either side, the ITF's points were pretty bogus, and most of the substantial evidence was on Gasquet's side. Wickmayer and Malisse were banned for a year because they didn't show up because they were ignorant of the rules that were in place over how often they have to be tested for drugs. As the courts rightly decided, all that they should get out of the whole incident is a warning of sorts to keep up on regulations for anti-doping. David Howman, the director general of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) even said that the rule that had originally led to the suspensions for Wickmayer and Malisse were going to go under review for fairness.

The only case that I can think of where someone really used their status to avoid penalty was Andre Agassi, but the recent cases were decided fairly.

P.S. Gasquet is one of my favorite players, and easily my favorite French player. Soo glad that he is back, would love for him to come back and win some big tournaments, especially Roland Garros! Understandably, that's sort of unrealistic for him to go and win the French Open, but one can dream!

Gasquet is a big time talent. Wimbledon semis, beat Roddick from 2 sets down. I think a lot of one handers, guys who come to the net more, develop later. I think Gasquet is going to compete for slams when he is like 24-25-26-27-28-29....

I am watching him closely. That's because I admire his style of play. I feel he plays the game the right way. Excellent one hand backhand, aggressive player, comes to net, good volleys...

Here's hoping. I don't like 2-handed tennis. It would be great if he won a few majors down the line.